Light in the Darkness
by Arrowhead1996
Summary: The darkness tainting his soul seems inescapable... until a special light reminds him who he truly is.


**Greetings!**

**Okay, so this wasn't originally supposed to be this dark at the beginning. It was _supposed_ to be a nice scene of Tsubasa contemplating his friends and generally having a good day.**

**That's not what happened.**

**I completely blame it on myself for deciding to listen to Skillet while I was writing. The album that I picked out was NOT conducive to a light-hearted friendship fic. Instead, this came out.**

**So... This is also an entry for a competition that SilenceOnMars, aka, Mal, decided to post. So, Mal, I hope you're impressed.**

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Tsubasa stood at the top of a hill overlooking the city. The wind blew softly through his silver hair, and his golden eyes stared at the far-away horizon. Eagle was perched in a tree nearby, preening his feathers.

Tsubasa finally broke his gaze from the horizon to look down at the purple and silver bey in his hand. Earth Eagle had been his friend for as long as he could remember. Even longer than the majestic bird who bore the same name. But now, something about the purple energy ring sent shivers down his spine.

He briefly replayed his battle with Kyoya in his head. He should have won that battle, but he didn't, and it was only because Kyoya didn't want to be on Japan's team that Tsubasa had been able to claim a spot along with the rest of his friends.

He had started the battle like normal, with cool confidence. But something Kyoya had said ignited a fire within him. His mind was consumed with an inferno of black and purple flames. The next thing he knew, he had lost, and Kyoya was calling Leone back into his own hand.

The memory brought to mind the figure he had seen in his own mind at the time. It was himself, but not. The other Tsubasa was surrounded with an aura of the same black and purple flames that had consumed his mind, and his eyes glowed white. The figure had scared him. It looked too much like Ryuga had in their last battle. He remembered the purple energy that the Dragon Emperor had been emanating. The pain as waves of that same energy slammed into him in time with Eagle's strikes on the Dragon bey.

He thought he had gotten past the damage that Ryuga and L-Drago had done to him and Eagle in the month or so in the hospital. Madoka had restored Eagle to his original shine and reliable wholeness. The hospital staff had restored Tsubasa's bodily health, and his friends had lifted his mind out of the darkness of Ryuga's attack. Hikaru had been particularly amazing. She had not battled since, but her encouragement had meant the most out of them all since she had gone through a similar experience.

And yet, after all that, his bey spirit still felt tainted with darkness. He hadn't said anything, of course, but it was obvious now. The darkness Ryuga had left behind was still tainting his normally bright spirit like scum on the surface of water. Now that it had appeared like this, Tsubasa feared what would happen in the championships.

Perhaps he should just withdraw. Yu and Masamune would be happy about that. Well… maybe not Yu. The kid was ridiculously attached to him, and would probably be disappointed if he left. And Ginka would be disappointed as well. All of them probably would. But it could be dangerous if he continued. They could get hurt. Maybe he should stop battling all together until he had sorted out what was going on.

The part of his bey spirit that was still bright and pure shuddered at that idea. He shook his head and returned his gaze to the horizon. The sun was setting, sending streamers of red, orange, and gold radiating along the line where the sky and land met. Higher up, the clouds were painted in pink and red and orange. It was beautiful and briefly brought Tsubasa's thoughts out of the darkness that consumed them.

But, all too soon, the sun sank beneath the horizon and darkness spread through the land, bringing the dark thoughts back with it. Tsubasa sat down the grass and looked up at the darkening sky. No stars had yet appeared, and he was alone with the darkness around and the darkness within.

But then, a single star faded into existence, piercing the darkness with its pure, white light. As though it was a signal to the others, hundreds of thousands of other stars slowly began fading back into existence as well. Tsubasa lay back on the grass, Eagle still clutched securely in his hand.

As the air grew colder, the sky grew brighter with stars. Soon, he was able to pick out many of his friend's bey constellations. Pegasus blazed majestically against the dark sky, and Sagittarius galloped along nearby.

A particularly well-known shape attracted his attention out of the corner of his eye. The majestic shape of Aquilla, the Eagle: his constellation. He held up Eagle, the silvery metal of the Earth fusion wheel catching the light of the stars from the constellation he was named after and reflecting it even brighter. The silver light of the starry eagle seemed to chase away the darkness clinging to the bey, and push back the darkness in Tsubasa's own soul. He closed his hand around his bey and stood. He looked up into the branches of the tree to see Eagle sleeping with his head tucked beneath his wing.

The silver-haired boy smiled up at his friend. He would let the bird sleep out in the wild like he should. Right now, he needed to go find his friends. They were probably looking for him.

As he walked down the hill and back into the city, his bey spirit shone brightly again, the darkness pushed into a corner and forgotten. Right now, he was going to focus on the championships. He wanted Gan Gan Galaxy to win, and he wanted to be there when they did.

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**Please REVIEW! I hope you liked the ending.**


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